The Inquirer cited Edison High School, one of the city's 19 "persistently dangerous schools," where a cellphone camera documented the "explosive violence that all too often engulfs Philadelphia public schools, traumatizing students and teachers and stifling learning."

That presents the irretrievable option of accelerating like a Cape Canaveral launch, becoming for all purposes, another competitor in Mexican road roulette, and — at the last moment before eternity engulfs you — swerving in front of that nice guy in the truck who with a flick of his wrist hinted, Okay, it's safe now.

The death of a friend, an incapacitating illness, or a tragic loss are such times -- times of hopelessness and despair, pain and confusion, when all bearing disappears and the void engulfs everything without mercy.